Lighten the Load: SOHP Students Teach Kids Backpack Safety

By Office of the President | Oct 1, 2024

On September 18, 2024, Downstate’s Occupational Therapy (OT) students got involved in National School Backpack Awareness Day once again, thanks to the support of The American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA). To keep children safe and healthy, OT students visited Brooklyn’s Public School 235, The Janice Marie Knight School, and Parkside Preparatory Academy to educate students on the importance of proper backpack use.

During their visit, OT students shared practical tips on safely carrying backpacks to prevent injuries. Using an original skit, they engaged students with fun and memorable ways to learn about backpack safety, emphasizing injury prevention and listening to their bodies. They even created an interactive presentation where the word “backpack” letters helped kids remember essential safety tips.

OT students also weighed backpacks and spoke with children one-on-one to ensure they were safe and correctly organized. This hands-on approach and individual instruction on properly wearing and packing their backpacks helped the students understand the best ways to prevent strain and injury.

Faculty liaisons Efekona Nuwere, Ed.D., MPH, OTR/L, and Vikram Pagpatan, Ed.D., OTR/L, CLA, emphasized the event’s significance, noting that it plays a vital role in the student’s community service efforts. They view it as an essential opportunity for students to give back, promote health and wellness, and strengthen their ties with the local community.

With continued support from Allen Lewis, Ph.D., CRC, Dean and Professor of the School of Health Professions at Downstate, this event has become an important annual tradition. Special thanks go to the OT student leaders, whose hard work and dedication made this event successful.

This Downstate annual tradition could not have been possible without the determined efforts of the program’s student leaders, listed below, whose initiative and dedication made the event a success. We extend a particular word of thanks to our OT student leaders: Kelly Powell, OTS; Giovanna Coleman, OTS; Jennifer Batilo, OTS; Jamie Siegart, OTS; Jenny Li, OTS; Karla Pennetta, OTS; Elizabeth Tung, OTS; Justine Luong, OTS; Malai O’Keefe, OTS; Lauren Ramirez, OTS; Lauren Wainwright, OTS; Anna Todd, OTS; and Jasmine Namyotov, OTS.

Backpack Awareness Day was launched in 1998 by the American Occupational Therapy Association in partnership with L.L. Bean and has grown to become a significant public health initiative for occupational therapy practitioners and educators nationwide. The growing awareness of potential long-term problems for children has resulted in increased medical research and more coverage of the issue in mainstream publications and medical journals.